The Guns of Cemetery Hill

The Guns of Cemetery Hill. The Battle of McDowell (May 8, 1862). , During the Battle of McDowell on May 8, 1862, this height known as Cemetery Hill was crowded with Federal cannon, each served by a crew of 14 men or more. Union Capt. Henry Hyman, Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, positioned his guns here with the 55th Ohio Infantry in support., To support the Union infantry attack on Sitlington's Hill, where Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's men under Confederate Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson waited for the assault. Hyman directed the fire on the Confederate position from this hill. (At the time Civil War, gunners had to see a target to aim at it; a year later, a Confederate gunner in West Virginia "invented" indirect fire using a forward observer.) The hill was so steep that the artillerists dug trenches for the cannon trails (rear of the carriage) to elevate the muzzles enough to reach the Confederates., Union Gens, Robert C. Schenck and Robert H. Milroy recognized that Jackson had the superior position and decided to launch a "spoiling attack" to stall the Confederates so that the Federals could withdraw in good order., On the plains below Hyman's artillery, Union Gen. Robert C. Schenck encouraged the men mostly from Ohio with an appeal of state pride: "Remember that you are from Ohio!" Filled with pride, the Ohio infantrymen nearly carried the day, before growing darkness and Confederate reinforcements ended the fighting., The result although was a costly victory for Jackson, whose forces suffered twice as many casualties as the Federals, but it also was the first of his string of victories during his famous Valley Campaign., (Captions):, Union Battery I First Ohio Light Artillery. , Image Courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society, Union Sgt. Oscar D. Ladley, 75th Ohio Infantry, sketched the McDowell Battlefield and Sitlington's Hill from approximately this position. He and his regiment crossed over Cemetery Hill to join the attack. The regiment lost 39 killed, wounded, and missing. Ladley survived the war and left the army in 1865 as a Captain. , Image Courtesy of Wright State University, Sketch of Sitlington's Hill by Sgt. Oscar Ladley 75th Ohio Infantry. , Courtesy of Wright State University